


Christmas Dinner with the Oswalds

by xXdreameaterXx



Series: Arrows of Eros [3]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-15
Updated: 2015-10-15
Packaged: 2018-04-26 12:59:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5005717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xXdreameaterXx/pseuds/xXdreameaterXx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From a Tumblr Prompt: The Doctor is forced to stay with Clara while the TARDIS is recalibrating when Clara's family spontaneously decides to come over for Christmas dinner. Not knowing how else she could explain his presence, Clara tells her family that the Doctor is actually her new boyfriend – John Smith. Whouffaldi.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas Dinner with the Oswalds

“My family insists on coming over for Christmas dinner – and yes, they are staying over night!”  
The Doctor looked up from the radio he had just taken apart to 'improve' it, apparently at as loss as to why Clara felt the need to tell him this.   
He cocked an eyebrow. “So?”  
“ _So_?” Clara asked back angrily, “How long did you say would it take for your TARDIS to recalibrate?”  
“Uhm, a week?” the Doctor glanced out of the window. Clara knew that the TARDIS was parked on the lawn in front of the building, yet it couldn't be seen from where he was sitting. And he was still not getting the point.  
“And when's Christmas?” Clara demanded to know.  
It took a moment for the Doctor to realize that the date in question was tomorrow as Clara could plainly see on his face. They had exactly 24 hours to figure out a good excuse for why he was living with her – or get the TARDIS to recalibrate a little faster.   
“Oh,” he uttered and quickly looked back down to the radio he had been tinkering with, “Don't worry, Clara. I'll retreat to my room and pretend I'm not here. You will hardly notice me at all. Though I would ask you to save me some of the turkey.”  
Clara highly doubted that. After a little crash landing the Doctor had been staying with her for the last two days and her flat was already a mess and Clara only had a vague idea of what a night of peaceful sleep meant. And there was another matter.  
“Doctor, my flat is not a TARDIS. I only have my own bedroom and the living room, the one you're currently occupying and my family is going to need that.”  
The Doctor looked up at her again, dropping the screwdriver on the couch table. “Why didn't you tell them you already have a guest over for Christmas?”  
She groaned in response. “Cause I didn't want to explain why there is a middle aged man who actually is a 2000+ year old Time Lord, who they have met by the way when he looked a teensy bit different, living with me.”  
“And don't you think they will ask about me when they actually _see_ me?,” he made a little tsk tsk noise, “Clara, your thinking is terribly faulty.”  
“I knooooow,” Clara sighed as she sank down on the sofa next to him, burying her face in her hands. She would have to come up with a solution, and she would have to come up with it soon. She couldn't pawn the Doctor off to anyone else, not without explaining who he was. She couldn't say he was one of her colleagues, who had gotten kicked out by his wife, and make him sleep in the living room with her family – or they would know in the matter of an hour that he was certainly not a teacher. There was only one possible solution.  
“Okay,” Clara sat back up, taking a deep breath, “Here's how we do it. We will share my bedroom, because I cannot leave you unattended with my family, and we will tell them that you're my new boyfriend. It's bad, but not as bad as a 2000 year old Time Lord who travels through time and space in a blue box. As long as you don't show up naked again, we'll be fine.”

She jumped off the couch, ignoring the utterly confused look on the Doctor's face.  
“And now you're helping me clean this place. You're the one who made this mess in the first place and we're gonna go over some rules regarding my family,” Clara decided.

 

**OOO**

 

Clara checked her watch every five minutes, knowing that the moment her family would arrive was drawing closer and closer. This Christmas was a nightmare and it hadn't even started yet. The Doctor was sitting on the sofa, twirling a Christmas cracker in his hands, looking grumpy because Clara had forced him to take a shower and while he hadn't been looking she had quickly grabbed his clothes and thrown them into the washer. He sniffed at his hoodie again.  
“I hate the smell,” he complained for the 5th time in the last two hours.  
“It's just fabric softener,” Clara reminded him, rolling her eyes, “You look like a space trash hobo, the least I could do was make sure you look like a clean space trash hobo. How long has it been since you washed them anyway?”  
The Doctor turned his head and stared out of the window.   
“Okay, as soon as your TARDIS is letting us in again, we'll get one of your better suits and leave it in my closet,” she said and upon realising that she had just suggested he left some clothes at her place, quickly added, “In case of emergencies.”  
Her eyes wandered to his restless hands that were still playing with the Christmas cracker.  
“And can you please stop that?” she asked, “You're making me nervous.”  
The Doctor threw the crack back onto the couch table. “Oh, _you're_ nervous? At least you're not the one who is going to be introduced as fake boyfriend.”  
Clara began to giggle. “You're not saying that you're nervous to meet my family? You have met them already, and it went relatively well, seeing that you weren't wearing any clothes. Granny loved you.”  
“Yes,” he spat, “Because I was young and good looking and naked.”  
“1100 years is young by your standards?” she raised an eyebrow at him, but the Doctor only scowled. 

Then the doorbell rang and Clara took a deep breath.  
“Here they come,” she said, turning towards the Doctor, “Please, be nice.”

She opened the door for her excited family, who came loaded with luggage and gifts and were competing to be the first to hug Clara. She flung her arms around her grandmother first, telling her how much she had missed her, and continued to hug her dad. Linda was greeted with a courtesy kiss on each cheek and Clara soon noticed how crowded the hallway became. It was now or never.  
“There's something I need to tell you,” Clara said and suddenly found her voice wavering. Her grandmother looked at her expectantly as if she already knew what was to come and Clara felt at a loss. How should she begin?  
“Remember how you all said that I should probably think about going out again? Well, I have, in fact, found someone. And he's here today, waiting for you in the living room.”  
Her grandmother looked overjoyed, her father doubtful – what Linda thought was of no interest to Clara at all.  
“His name is John Smith and we met last year already, actually, when he was filling in for the caretaker at my school. I wanted to wait til after Christmas to tell you, but you sprang this on me at the last minute and John's. . . house . . . is being renovated so he had no place else to go.”  
She paused, waiting for someone to say something. Her grandmother was the first to put on a smile.  
“Well, what are you waiting for, honey? Show us the man!”

Clara laughed nervously and led everyone into the living room where, to her surprise, the Doctor had already started to set the dinner table. She noticed that her family paused upon seeing the Doctor, which didn't surprise her at all. Again, her grandmother was the first to break the ice. She extended her hand, which the Doctor shook without obvious reluctance.  
“Lovely to meet you, Mr Smith,” she said with a smile, “And whatever those standing behind me are going to say or do, just let me tell you that the boyfriend Clara had two years ago showed up naked for Christmas dinner and later broke up with her on the same day. You're already dressed and if you manage not to break my Clara's heart, I have every intention to like you.”  
“ _Grandma!_ ”  
The Doctor grinned at the older woman. “It's lovely to meet you, too. And Clara has mentioned this story so often I almost feel like I was there. But please, call me John.”  
“Why is he dressed like a homeless person?” Dave Oswald whispered into his daughter's ear.  
Clara shot her father a dirty look. “Because we had planned a quiet Christmas for just the two of us before this family invasion happened,” she snapped back at him.  
“And you must be Mr Oswald. Clara has told me everything about you and your lovely wife,” the Doctor said, smiling at both of them and completely ignoring Clara's confused looks. 

She had expected the Doctor to be rude or unfriendly, fearing that Christmas dinner would be a complete disaster, but he was actually playing along and he proved to be a much better fake boyfriend than the previous him. The Doctor had been anything but keen on meeting her family again, but now he was behaving like a proper gentleman, scolding Clara for being rude because she had neglected to offer her family to sit down, even holding the chair for her grandmother and when everyone was seated, he announced that he was going to fetch the turkey from the kitchen.

“I'll help you,” Clara added and followed him into the small room where the Doctor immediately started to retrieve the food from the oven.  
“Doctor, what is going on?” she asked in a hushed voice.  
He threw her a quick glance before reaching for the oven mittens. “I don't know what you're talking about.”  
“You know exactly what I am talking about. You're being. . . not you. You're nice to my family!”  
A few seconds later the turkey was sitting on the kitchen counter, smelling heavenly and the Doctor finally turned his attention back to Clara.  
“I thought that's what you wanted.”  
“Yes,” she replied, “But I didn't think you'd actually listen.”  
The Doctor groaned in response. “Can we go back into the living room now? Your family is waiting for us.”

Clara watched the Doctor suspiciously while they were having dinner with her family. He was being the perfect (fake) boyfriend and even her dad was starting to warm up to him. It was proof that the Doctor wasn't as oblivious to human behaviour and manners as he always pretended to be. He could be nice if he wanted to. But why had he chosen this Christmas dinner to prove that?  
“I hope you don't mind me asking,” her grandmother suddenly said, “But how did the two of you get together? It seems a rather. . . unlikely match.”  
“Granny, I told you we met when he was working as caretaker at my school.”  
“That's not what I mean. How did your relationship start?”  
Clara opened her mouth to speak, but the Doctor interrupted her. “I asked Clara to run away with me. I wasn't working at Coal Hill anymore when Danny died and I had decided to leave them alone, let them be happy. It wasn't until last Christmas that I finally heard of Danny's death and I decided it was now or never, so I asked her to run away with me.”  
“You could have said something,” her grandmother suddenly said, sounding a little hurt, “You were gone when I woke up. No trace of Clara but a little note that you'd gone home.”  
“You've been together for _a year_?” Dave asked.  
Clara looked at him apologetically. “Technically.”  
She was already bracing herself for a lecture when the Doctor spoke again. “I was travelling. . . on business. . . for the bigger part of the year. Only came back to England recently.”  
“Now, let's not torture the two of them any longer. I have a present in my bag that I want to get rid of,” her grandmother said, breaking the tension that Clara felt was beginning to build up.  
“Marvellous idea,” she agreed.

Clara had gotten her dad and Linda a gift certificate for a spa weekend that was greatly appreciated by both of them. Her present for her grandmother was an antique fairy tale book that she knew her granny had read and loved as a child and that she had finally spotted – in no other location than an alien bazaar. In return Clara received a collective present from the three of them – a digital camera that she immediately used to snap a few shots of their Christmas dinner.   
“I see embarrassing pictures in my future,” the Doctor muttered under his breath.   
Clara giggled. “Okay, shall we clean this up and see what's on TV?”  
The Doctor cleared his throat next to her and Clara turned around, realising that suddenly the insecurity from earlier had returned as he fumbled through his pockets.   
“I, erm, I have something for you,” he admitted, avoiding her gaze.  
She was a little taken aback. “But. . . since when do we do presents?”  
Finally the Doctor pulled something from his pocket and Clara realized it was a small, golden, Roman looking bracelet with fine engravings shaped like leaves all around it. It was clean and shiny and looked new, but the style seemed ancient and Clara assumed that the bracelet actually was an original piece of Roman jewellery. Gently the Doctor reached for Clara's hand and slid it around her wrist. For a moment she was lost for words.  
“I, erm, I picked it up when I went to Rome a while ago. There's a story behind it, but I think I'll save that for later.”  
Before the Doctor could say any more Clara got up on her toes and pressed a swift kiss to his cheek before wrapping her arms around his neck. Reluctantly he placed his hands on her waist.

 

**OOO**

 

When Clara settled in her pillows the Doctor was nervously walking around her bedroom, obviously unsure of what to do next. With a smile on her face, she turned the bracelet around her wrist.  
“It's a lovely present,” Clara said after a moment, looking at the Doctor who was still standing by the door as if he was still keeping his option of flight open, “Come on, sit down. I won't bite.”  
“You know I don't need much sleep.”  
“Yes, but if you keep standing there it's gonna make me nervous and then I can't sleep either. So sit.”  
Slowly the Doctor began approaching the bed and eventually settled down next to her, his head carefully sinking into the pillow, arms crossed over his chest.   
“So, what's the story behind the gift?” she asked curiously.  
The Doctor shifted in bed, turning around to look at her. He had been so at ease with her family earlier that Clara was surprised he now looked as uncomfortable as he had before dinner.   
“Remember last week when I arrived at your school a bit early and you told me to come back an hour later?”  
“I remember you came back 8 hours later, yes,” Clara replied.   
“Well, I helped this Roman jewellery maker free his fiancé from alien captivity. It was no big deal, but he insisted on giving me this bracelet. Told me to give it to someone,” the Doctor explained.  
“Someone?” she raised an eyebrow, “He said ' _Give this to someone_ '?”  
The Doctor took a deep breath. “Someone special. That's what he said.”  
A smile spread on Clara's face. As rude and cold as he sometimes appeared, at his hearts the Doctor truly cared about her and she loved those moments that his true feelings shone through.   
“You know what is amazing somehow?” Clara ask, a smirk on her face.  
“No?” he asked carefully.  
“My family totally bought that we're boyfriend and girlfriend and we haven't even kissed once in front of them.”  
“Well,” he said, clearing his throat, “I wasn't sure if you'd want this charade taken that far.”  
Before she could think twice about it, Clara leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. For a moment he didn't react at all and Clara was already wondering if she had made a big mistake. After all, the Doctor didn't even like hugging. But after the shock of the first impact had subsided, she felt the Doctor slowly yield to her kiss, his lips parting just enough to let her know it was okay. In less than a minute the gentle kiss had turned into a full blown snogging and the Doctor's hands had somehow found its way into her hair, pulling her only deeper into the kiss.   
Then suddenly the door burst open and they both jumped apart as a reflex.  
“Clara, do you have a spare charger for. . .,” her father voice stopped abruptly, before he added, “Nevermind. Still time for that tomorrow.”  
The bedroom door closed again.  
“Well,” Clara shrugged, “On the bright side. If there had been any doubt that we're actually a couple, that doubt is gone now.”


End file.
